A. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to electronic mail systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for prioritized delivery of electronic mail messages.
B. Description of the Related Art
The past several years have seen a dramatic shift in methods of communicating information. In the past, the only way of communicating information was via standard mail delivery of handwritten or typed documents. With the advent of the telephone and telegraph, it became possible to convey voice signals and information electrically. Recently, electronic communication has become a rapidly increasing way of conveying information—especially because of widely available access to the Internet. People now exchange electronic mail (“email”) addresses concurrently with telephone numbers, and many major businesses provide access to information and services on the Internet via sites on the World Wide Web.
Because of the rapid pace of development in this field, however, the evolution has not been completely seamless. Although it is now possible to communicate audio/visual information electronically, it is certainly not easy to do so. Simply to send and receive email, a user initially must purchase a computer system, configure all of its component parts to interoperate, learn the operating system for the computer, contract with an Internet service provider, and learn how to use the application software for email. If a user wants to send audio-visual information such as a picture, video sequence or audio, the user is forced to purchase even more hardware and learn even more software.
A conventional computer system is shown in FIG. 1. A computer system 100 is used to compose and transmit email, generally by dial-up telephone connection, to an Internet service provider (ISP) 180. ISP 180 contains a mail server 190, which is responsible for receiving email and routing it to the appropriate destination address.
Computer system 100 consists of a computer 130, to which are attached several accessories. Computer 130 may be any conventional home or business computer such as a personal computer (PC), a Macintosh, a network computer, or a Sun Workstation. The user interface to computer 130 includes a keyboard 140, some type of pointing device such as a mouse 150, and a display screen 120. In addition to a user interface, computer system 100 may also contain an offline storage device 110 for storing messages to be sent and messages that have been received. Typical offline storage devices include a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, or a tape unit. A typical computer system 100 also contains a modem 160 which is employed to send or receive messages between computer system 100 and ISP 180.
To send a email message, a user enters a message into computer 130 via keyboard 140 and/or mouse 150. This email message may or may not then be stored on offline storage device 110. The email message is then transmitted from computer 130 to ISP 180 via modem 160. Upon receiving the message, mail server 190, within ISP 180, forwards the message to the appropriate destination. In this manner, a user of computer system 100 may transmit a email message to any user that is connected to ISP 180, either directly or indirectly via the Internet.
A user desiring to transmit an email message containing audio-visual information must further employ an audio-video input interface 170. To this interface 170 a user may attach an audio-visual source such as, for example, a video cassette recorder (VCR) or a camcorder. To transmit an audio-visual email message, audio-visual information is transferred from the audio-visual source to computer 130 via interface 170, and converted to an appropriate format such as MPEG. This information may or may not be stored offline on storage device 110. The information is then composed into an email message and is transmitted from computer 130 to ISP 180 via modem 160. Mail server 190 of ISP 180 forwards it to the appropriate destination.
As the preceding explanation demonstrates, composing and transmitting an email message on a conventional computer system requires numerous hardware components and significant user sophistication. This complexity creates a barrier to entry that prevents many individuals from participating in the information age.
Recent developments have sought to address the problem noted above. Companies now provide a service that allows an individual to purchase a relatively inexpensive “set-top box,” which is connected to a television receiver to access the Internet. As a result, individuals now have somewhat easier access to the Internet and a simpler way of sending and receiving email.
A representative example of such a set-top system is shown in FIG. 2, and is commercially available from WebTV. Such a system consists of a set-top box 220 which is connected to a conventional television receiver 200. Also attached to television receiver 200 may be a video signal source 210 such as, for example, a VCR or a camcorder.
A user of such a system may compose a email message by using remote control 230 in conjunction with set-top box 220. This may be accomplished by using a wireless keyboard (not shown). Alternatively, set-top box 220 may generate a display of the alphabet, which is shown on television receiver 200. By employing remote control 230, the user selects individual letters of the displayed alphabet to compose words, phrases, or sentences. During this composition, the email message being created is stored in a memory of set-top box 220. Once the message has been fully created, it is transmitted from set-top box 220 to a WebTV system 240. This transmission is performed using a conventional modem and dial-up telephone lines. Once the message reaches WebTV system 240, a WebTV mail server 250 forwards the message to the appropriate destination.
Problems remain, however, despite the availability of such set-top systems. Neither a set-top system nor a computer system contains a robust email management system designed with home users in mind. For example, although these systems provide a way to send and receive text information, they do not allow the user to manipulate audio-visual information. Moreover, neither the computer system nor the set-top system provides users with the ability to specify a priority or a delivery time frame for transmitted email messages. For example, a user cannot specify that a message must be delivered within one hour.
There exists, therefore, a need for a versatile but simple form of electronic communication that is readily accessible to the general public. To provide versatility, the system should accommodate text, audio, video, and a robust email system; it should also employ an open architecture so that individuals may use whatever Internet service provider they prefer. To provide simplicity, the system should be integrated, rather than having multiple components that its user needs to purchase separately and then assemble together; it should also employ familiar hardware that requires simple commands.
The present invention helps to satisfy this need and solve the problem of providing a simple but versatile form of electronic communication. It provides methods and apparatus that allow its users to manipulate, send, and receive audio/visual information easily by using familiar devices such as an interactive receiver and a remote control device. In particular, the present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for prioritized delivery of electronic mail messages.